Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

Chapter 82

Leon quietly let his magic flow into the magic circle on the first page.

As the gentle current of mana spread and began to circulate through the book, an unfamiliar voice echoed in Leon's mind.

"Nadel...?"

It was a raspy voice.

Leon grabbed his head as a sudden headache hit him.

"...Who are you?"

The voice was clearly coming from the other side of the magic circle that Leon had just connected to. The speaker seemed to realize that Leon was a stranger.

Quickly, Leon cut off the flow of mana.

"Was I tricked?"

That was the last thing the voice said before falling silent. Now that everything was quiet again, Leon started thinking.

‘Was that a way for the blood mages to communicate?’

It seemed like the blood mages were using rune magic circles for communication. Most people wouldn’t have noticed unless they were specifically studying rune magic these days.

Just in case there were any traces left on him, Leon activated the "Radiance of Creation" and checked his body. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be anything unusual. It looked like the magic circle was only used for communication.

Leon breathed a sigh of relief and committed the patterns of the magic circles in the book to memory. After all, the book was going to be handed over to Astellia soon anyway.

Aside from that, the book contained the ritual procedures.

They would tie a living person to the altar and slowly drain their blood, as if someone—or something—was absorbing it.

‘But who’s taking the blood?’

Was there really an ancient mage that these people were trying to resurrect? It sounded like a ridiculous story, but according to the records, it seemed that there really was some kind of entity receiving the offerings.

Leon closed the book after processing the information.

It didn’t contain any specific details about blood magic itself.

Meanwhile, Elder Chil had also finished his investigation and approached Leon.

Elder Chil’s eyes fell on the book in Leon’s hands. Noticing his gaze, Leon silently handed it over.

“This seems to be a book about the ritual they were performing here.”

“I see. That matches with what the last blood mage said before dying, asking about their 'priest.'”

“The priest...”

It wasn’t clear whether this priest had been working in another region or had been here with them, but they couldn’t afford to search for him right now.

“Shall we find the rest of the team if there's nothing more to investigate?”

“Yes, let’s.”

Leon and Elder Chil checked the other tunnels connected to the altar.

Some of the magicians were still fighting blood mages, while others had fallen into traps and died shortly after getting separated.

Fortunately, Jerdin and Pauline were still alive, having held their ground against the blood mages until Leon and Elder Chil could help them.

Out of the original 51 magicians, only 27 survived.

Elder Chil gathered the remaining forces and led them back to Astellia.

Astellia

Upon returning to Astellia, the task force disbanded, and Leon immediately retreated into his orb.

Inside, Kito was waiting for him.

Without a word, Kito spat something out from her mouth.

What remained was a grotesque, unrecognizable corpse.

The head was gone, and the arms and legs had melted away. Only the torso was left.

‘Did she... leave this behind because I asked for the core?’

“The core isn't there,” Kito said, transforming back into her human form and handing Leon a purple crystal.

It was the same crystal used to store the core from a dark mage they'd defeated before.

“The core disappears quickly after death, so there was nothing I could do about that.”

As Leon grasped the crystal, the gray streaks inside it were absorbed into his wooden sword.

The core of the high-level blood mage had been consumed by the sword.

[Can’t you shut that beast up?] the voice suddenly interrupted, causing Leon to frown.

“What did it say?”

“...Nothing.”

Leon held back from repeating the comment, but Kito seemed to sense what had been said. She calmly replied:

“She’s probably badmouthing me. Typical cursed weapons—contracts with them are always risky.”

[Come on, let’s make a deal! I wanna chat with that beast!]

Leon, feeling a headache coming on, decided to end the conversation with the sword for now.

[How long are you going to stay awake?]

[After that meal? I’ll be around for a while!]

[Can I at least shut you up when I want to?]

[Aw, come on! I’m bored!]

From the way it sounded, it was possible. Leon sighed and cut the connection to the sword, like breaking a bond with a familiar.

The voice went silent, just like that.

“You're going to keep using that sword, so I won’t say anything, but you really need to be careful about that contract,” Kito warned.

Leon nodded in agreement. The contract with Kito had been incredibly advantageous for him.

‘But that was under the condition that I would find Kito’s core.’

If Kito had stayed trapped, she might have been wiped out when Teneral invaded Widia. The situations were too different to compare.

“I’m not planning to make any contracts just yet.”

“You also need to decide whether you’re going to release the sword’s full power.”

Leon agreed. He couldn’t trust the sword entirely, and he had no idea what would happen if it were fully unsealed.

He’d have to be prepared for anything before moving forward with that decision.

Leon turned his attention back to the subspace pouch he’d taken from the blood mage’s corpse.

The contents were simpler than he’d expected.

‘Not even a single mana stone.’

Only three items fell out of the pouch.

The first was a red spellbook. Two characters stood out on its cover:

[Heavenly Blood (天血).]

Leon realized that he’d achieved his goal. He had successfully obtained a blood magic tome.

Despite his growing excitement, Leon restrained himself from opening it immediately. There was still more to inspect.

The second item was a black sigil, its engraved symbol hauntingly familiar.

‘Teneral...?’

Leon rummaged through his belongings and pulled out another black sigil he’d been keeping.

It was from the dark mage he had defeated, a sigil he’d never used due to the possibility of it being cursed or tracked.

Comparing the two, he noticed subtle differences in the designs, but overall, they were very similar.

It was clear that this second sigil represented a higher rank.

‘Could they be related?’

Teneral and the blood mages could either be working together, or there was a much deeper connection between them.

Feeling uneasy, Leon set the sigil aside and picked up the last item: a piece of parchment.

It looked like a letter addressed to someone.

‘No, it feels more like a contract or a mission request.’

Leon began reading the parchment carefully.